Romy Schneider: Her desperate gesture to recover Alain Delon, a failure accompanied by a sad discovery

Romy Schneider was born on September 23, 1938 in Vienna (Austria), 86 years ago to the day. Died on May 29, 1982 in Paris, she had a brilliant career in cinema, notably making an impression in La Piscine (1969), alongside Alain Delon. They had met a few years earlier, on the set of Christine (1958). It was love at first sight, for both of them. So much so that they quickly decided to get engaged. As we recently learned in a special edition of Parisian dedicated to the death of the Cheetah, which occurred in August, the latter had promised to marry him, “if for three months in a row they did not argue“.

However, everything did not go as planned. Those who lived in Tancrou, a small village in Seine-et-Marne, separated in the summer of 1963. A breakup initiated by Alain Delon, who declared in particular the following: “She comes from the social class (bourgeois family, editor’s note) that I hate the most in the world. She can’t do anything about it, but unfortunately she is scarred by it. In five years, I was unable to erase anything that had been instilled in her for twenty years (…) There were always two Romy Schneiders in her. I loved one of the two Romys more than anything in the world, I hated the other just as much.” It is “by a letter of around ten pages that he sent to Hollywood” that he will announce to her the end of their romance.

Desperate, Romy Schneider immediately jumped on a plane, hoping to win him back as quickly as possible.

Alain Delon, his confidences about Romy Schneider

“But when she arrives at their apartment on rue de Messine, in the 8th arrondissement (of Paris, editor’s note), she only finds a bouquet of flowers and a note“, recounted Bertrand Tessier, author of Delon & Romy, an impossible lovein 2010. Adding that Alain Delon, who had just met Nathalie, the mother of his eldest son Anthony, will keep “a feeling of guilt towards her“. This is why he will give an ultimatum to the director of La Piscine, Jacques Deray. By telling him this: “If Romy doesn’t act, I don’t make the film.” They will ultimately form a magnificent duo in this feature film, before reuniting in 1972 for The Assassination of Trotsky. The disappearance of the actress will prevent them from playing each other again.

Alain Delon, despite his choice to leave her, will remain marked for life by their story. Declaring in particular this: “It was very beautiful and very pure. Romy Schneider was my age. Until now, the women I loved were ten years older than me. This time, it was no longer the same tobacco. I can say that it’s my first great love: love at 20 is something you don’t forget. After that, it’s never the same“The actor lived, until his death, “surrounded by portraits of Romy Schneider“, as explained The Parisian. By specifying that “in the living room of her Parisian apartment, displayed prominently, were books of photos of them, young and sublime lovers“She will stay forever.”his eternal fiancée“.